


Hotdog Musings

by Yemi Hikari (Yemi_Hikari)



Series: Time in Portia/Stardew Valley [3]
Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game), Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alex (Stardew Valley) is Gay, Arlo (My Time At Portia) & Sebastian (Stardew Valley) Are Siblings, Embarrassment, F/M, Food Kart, Food Trucks, High School, Romance, Secrets, Slow Burn, Summer Vacation, Summer of Giles 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25586770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yemi_Hikari/pseuds/Yemi%20Hikari
Summary: Haley didn't think anybody would find out about her part time job the previous summer, but someone at school left an envelope on her desk.
Relationships: Arlo (My Time At Portia) & Sebastian (Stardew Valley), Arlo (My Time At Portia)/Haley (Stardew Valley)
Series: Time in Portia/Stardew Valley [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849864
Kudos: 1
Collections: (Prompts) Last Summer Collab Prompts, (World) Time in Portia/Stardew Valley, Focus on Female Characters, MinorFandomFest, Platonic Relationships, Siblings





	Hotdog Musings

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - I don't own Stardew Valley or My Time in Portia. This was written for one of the prompts for Last Summer Conest Collab over on Wattpad. I'm going to try to write at least one story per prompt before August 15th for the fun of it. This one is written for **Food Kart** 's prompt and needed to be 1.5-2k.
> 
> " _You're the president of an active school council in your high school. Everybody respected you. Until one day, someone from class has left a folded note on your desk. When you opened it, it was a printed picture of you wearing a ridiculous costume while serving food from last summer's part-time job. It was something you were embarrassed about. At the bottom, the note said, "I know what you did last summer._ "

“Haley, get your butt in gear otherwise you’ll be late for the bus!”

The Haley in question rolled her eyes, running her brush through her hair a few more times before heading from her beach themed room into the living room where her sister Emily stood glaring at her, hands on her hips.

“You left me to do all the chores again.”

She swallowed, wishing her older sister wouldn’t get on her case; Emily _wasn’t_ their parents, nor did their parents say she could tell Haley what to do while they were gone. “Yeah, I’m off.”

She headed straight for the bus stop, taking a deep breath. Alex stood waiting for her. “Looking forward to school ending and the start of the summer?”

“Normally. Yes, but Emily…” Haley shook her head, not wanting to discuss the number one conversation with her older sister – the fact Emily thought Haley needed to grow up. Alex didn’t pry, having learned a long time ago Emily was an off-limits subject. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Sebastian sneaking towards the Stardew Valley bus stop in hopes of not being noticed, only for the new kid – Sam, to hurtle through latching himself to Sebastian.

“I still haven’t figured out what classes you’re in.”

Alex shook his head. “When did Sebastian start wearing all black?”

Haley nudged him in the ribs, shaking her head indicating he shouldn’t say anything, lest Sebastian overheard. The bus ride into town was otherwise uneventful unless you counted a greeting here and there, which happened once Haley got to school, her arm interlocked with Alex’s. They separated once they’d arrived at her first-period class and she headed straight for her desk.

She paused upon seeing an envelope on the desk, yet some of the other girls jeered, almost as if they’d already peeked inside.

**FK**

She’d taken on the summer job because of all of Emily’s quips regarding being incapable of doing anything on her own, not to mention never being in want of anything because her parents spoiled her so – not that Emily wasn’t spoiled in the same manner. The plan was to save up for a trip the following summer once she’d graduated from high school, although she’d not yet narrowed down her list of places she wanted to go.

Of course, the job she found meant staying the summer with one of her aunts in Zuzu city, so almost nobody should have known about her job at a food cart where she wore a hotdog suit despite the fact said food cart didn’t sell any hotdogs – it specialized in noodle dishes. She wore the costume because said costume helped attract attention to the food cart and the food within.

“Two seafood noodles please.”

“Coming right up.” The food remained simple, the noodles boiling in one pot while the fixings sizzled upon the grill, allowing the smell to waft up into the air. The person in charge of the food kart hadn’t yet let Haley be in charge of cooking, likely thinking her some kind of dim blond incapable of doing anything. Thankfully, the cart owner didn’t try using Haley’s good looks for a selling point, although the hotdog costume was definitely an embarrassing thing to wear.

Turning, Haley saw a young man with red hair and beard standing there with a pair of vivid blue eyes. Briefly, she felt as if there was something familiar regarding the young man, yet any fleeting inkling of familiarity quickly left upon seeing the definitely familiar figure standing next to the young man. There was no mistaking Sebastian dark hair and dark eyes even though he looked away from the food kart at that moment, yet for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what the teen was doing with the stranger in front of her.

Without thinking, Haley hurried out the back of the food kart while the kart owner let out a shout, jumping down onto the ground before heading over towards the young man with red hair, her fist pulling back. The next thing she knew, the young man was on the ground, looking at her in surprise while she stood between Sebastian and the young man, glaring daggers at him, one arm held out to prevent Sebastian from approaching the young man she suspected was taking advantage of Sebastian.

“Haley?”

**FK**

Putting the envelope into her bookbag, she hurried out of the classroom, looking for the younger teen in question, quite miffed at how Sebastian gave away her secret from the summer before. A slight blush dusted her cheeks as she hurried through the hallways, knowing exactly where the teen normally hung out. He stared up at the ceiling, a pair of headphones in his ears ignoring everything else which went on.

She tapped her finger on his shoulder. He looked up, pulling one earplug from his ear, his eyes narrowed. “What?”

She pulled the envelope out of the bag and shoved the item into Sebastian’s hands. “Why? Why would you do that? After I…”

He took the envelope, still glaring at her, but when he viewed the picture inside – of Haley dressed as a Hotdog he said. “I wouldn’t.”

**FK**

“Are you okay?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Do you know her Sebby?” the young man Haley decked asked. Haley found herself taking a deep breath, standing tall in her – well, hotdog suit.

“You’re wearing a hotdog suit.” Sebastian pointed out.

“And?”

“This is a noodle cart. Why are you wearing a hot dog suit?”

“Why…” Haley let out a deep breath, turning towards Sebastian. “What are you doing with this man Sebastian? And aren’t you supposed to be on your way back from Stardew from wherever you go when you spend time away from the valley?”

The slight smirk on his face, which was surprising given how little Sebastian ever smiled quickly faded. “I, uh.”

“Who is this stranger?”

She heard the young man in question stand, letting out a groan before standing off and dusting himself off. “Well, that was quite the punch.”

“Sebastian.” Haley hissed.

“Do you mind not telling Robin that you’ve seen me?”

Haley turned back towards the young man, glaring at him. “I can imagine why given…”

“Haley, Arlo’s my older brother. He and mom aren’t on speaking terms because…”

“I am so sorry!” She bowed in apology, only to knock Arlo in the head with her hotdog head.

**FK**

“If you didn’t…” Haley took the envelope from him, holding it firmly in her hand. She heard the whispering of others, about how the president of the school council was taken down a notch. She took a deep breath. “ _I thought everybody respected me_.”

“Hey. What’s…”

The sound of another approaching made Haley turn and see the new kit tilting his head at her. “So -um, if you’re thinking Sebastian put that on your desk…”

“Why?” She wondered why a kid who was so likely to _be_ popular at the school would worry about ruining her popularity.

“Um, your sister asked me to.”

“She… Emily?” That was certainly unexpected.

**FK**

Sebastian laughed. She’d not heard him laugh in a long time, not that she’d ever asked what made the smile from his childhood disappear so. In fact, looking at him, the smile was there, yet she couldn’t help saying. “It’s not funny.”

“Yes, it is. Arlo is in the Civil Corps and you managed to deck him. Not once, but twice.” Sebastian continued laughing, his arms crossing.

“Civil Corps?” Haley recognized the name used for those in the more rural parts for those who supported and defended the small towns.

Sebastian’s smile faltered slightly while he glanced away. “Yeah. Momo’s not exactly happy he followed in our dad’s footsteps.”

“So then…” She didn’t finish, not wanting to ask if Sebastian’s father died as a member of the Civil Corps. She found it a bit difficult to believe Robin would take issue with such a thing, but then – she remembered the woman fretting over the smallest scratch when Sebastian was younger, so maybe…

Thankfully, she didn’t lose her job but found herself eating seafood noodles with Sebastian and his brother on her break. She made the mistake of asking, “Are you dating anybody?”

“Are you in high school?”

Her cheeks flushed up, but Sebastian let out a laugh. “Arlo.”

“What?”

“You’re like, what? Eighteen.”

In other words, he was about a year older than her. Plus…

**FK**

“I can’t believe Emily did that.” Alex sat at the kitchen table while Haley made seafood noodles. After that event, she learned to make the dish from the food kart owner, even learning to do something more than noodles which could be done quickly at a food kart. “Well, sort of. I mean, wouldn’t she have realized what that would do to you at school?”

“I don’t know.” The door to Emily’s room opened and closed. “Do you have time to eat dinner with me?” Not that she wanted to, but she needed to talk with her sister rather than yelling, which was why Alex was there.

“I have to get to my job Emily.”

“You’ve time,” Alex piped up. “I want to know why you asked Sam to put the envelope onto Haley’s desk.”

“You’re not bothered at all by the fact Haley’s cheating on you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hold on. I’ll be right back.” Emily headed into the bedroom.

Alex let out a sigh. “You know, if you’ve found someone you like…”

“You don’t want your grandfather to know.” Haley let out a sigh, knowing full well Alex kept his actual sexuality hidden for a reason.

“You promised.”

The door to Emily’s room opened and she came out. She placed a picture onto the table. “See. There’s a picture of you with him in that ridiculous hotdog outfit. Was the reason you took on the job so you could have secret assignations with…”

“Oh.” Haley let out a sigh. “That’s the picture Sebastian took.”

“Sebastian? What does he have to do with this?”

“For your information, I did the job for the money.”

“Mom and dad would pay for anything you…”

“Yeah. I know. You keep rubbing that in my face _all_ the time. I wanted to save up for a trip this summer. Then I met him.”

“Yeah, but Sebastian…”

Alex let out a sigh. “Look. I’m actually aware of went on last summer. Haley told me.” He pulled the picture closer. “Well, not that the guy was good looking.”

“She didn’t tell me.”

“Your rather hard on her Em.” Alex let out a sigh. “Look. I’m fine with what happened, so…”

“But, Sebastian…”

“Leave him out of this Emily.” Haley placed hands on her hips.

“I babysat him when he was little, so…”

Alex let out a sigh. “Em. Leave it. Sebastian would be very upset if you don’t, from what Haley’s told me, but it’s not anything bad either. Just – think of the guy as one of those big brother figures.”

“Okay. Fine.” Emily sighed. “I’ve got to get to my job anyways.”

The front door opened and closed. Alex looked at her. “So, you’re going to go on a trip to wherever this guy is?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on. You learned to make seafood noodles, but you turned eighteen this spring.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know what town he’s in the civil corps for.” She saw the look on his face. “And no, I’m not going to ask Sebastian.” She stopped her preparations, letting the smell waft up to her nose. “But maybe. Maybe I can get a job at this Round Table place they mentioned.”

“Well, that’s a clue you can use to find the place. Plus, I think you should. You enjoy cooking, and you may learn something.”


End file.
